Wow...has it really been over a week since I've posted? Please accept my most sincere apologies! I've experienced some technical difficulties but I'm back in the game now!
All morning I've been thinking about goals and dreams. We've just begun a new year and I've vowed to reinvent myself...to push myself to achieve things that I never have before. Creating this blog is a part of that process. But what about having dreams and goals for our differently-abled children? It is easy to give up on our dreams for our children when they are born with challenges that we never expected them to have. I mean, who actually expects their child to be born with autism, cerebral palsy, an intellectual disability or any other special challenge? We certainly didn't! Like most people, we expected that we would give birth to a perfectly healthy baby. When Christina was born, and as more and more of her challenges came to light, we found ourselves stumbling around looking for answers. I've often compared that feeling to that of an undefeated heavyweight champion, in the ring with an ametuer whose talent he's grossly underestimated. The champ lets his guard down just a little and "Wham"! His challenger manages to get a punch in below the belt! Knocked from his perch of unshakeable confidence, the champ stumbles around the ring, desperately trying to get his bearings again. "Hadn't the referee seen that punch?" It was not a fair blow. "Why wasn't somebody blowing a whistle or something?" "Why hadn't this contender been disqualified?" So many questions, but no answers...at least not until emotion takes a back seat to his faith and renewed confidence. For whatever reason, his opponent's blow had been allowed and he now had to find a way to survive this match. So, the champ regroups and gets back in the ring. This time, acknowledging his opponent's ability to defeat him and drawing on every ounce of faith, skill, and confidence that he has to make sure that this doesn't happen. In the end, the champ wins the match. Not an easy win by any stretch of the imagination, but a win that was achieved through perserverance, wisdom, and faith.
I am not saying that we may not have to make changes to the dreams and goals that we have for our children. What I am saying is that we must not abandon our responsibility to set goals for them and to have dreams for them. We must find a way to recover from that "below the belt" punch and regroup. After all, how else will they learn to set their own goals and create dreams for themselves if we don't dream for them first?
" And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon the tables, that he may run that readeth it". Habakkuk 2:2
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